So, just how badly do we think The Oscars are gonna "mess" things up this year?

[lydecker]

And then, of course, there was this atrocity.  Instead of honoring The Godfather, they turned the film montage into the "The Godfather Rap . . ."  I'd say "Unbelievable" but apparently anything goes at the Oscars now in their desperate, desperate attempt to make the show "hip and relevant." 

 

[unwatchable]

 

[MrMagoo]

1 hour ago, LuckyDan said:

Oh yeah? I'll see your human nature, and raise ya DNA.

I said before sunup that Smith would have a counterargument if they revoke his award. Since the new code talks about respecting dignity, the academy allowed what he night term a hurtful remark about his wife's appearance which is the result of a known medical condition. I for one think it's a fair point. 

How did they handle it when Norman Maine showed up drunk and swinging?

I would humbly and respectively disagree. I would guess 98% of the audience did not know that J.P. Smith had an alopecia problem. Heck, most wouldn't know what alopecia meant. J.P. Smith looks nice with a shaved head. It's pretty popular with some women these days and I (who is acutely attuned to the vagaries of American culture) did not think twice about her appearance.  I know who she is and I thought she looked delightful. I did not know about her alopecia nor anything about the "backstory" re. her marriage and her podcast pronouncements about it. Like most people, why should I? 

In addition, Chris Rock told that joke in rehearsal the day before in front of Will Smith. He knew it was coming. I suspect...and have not heard one way or the other...that Mrs. Smith was not at rehearsal. Really, why should she? Therefore, did Mr. Smith tell Mrs. Smith it was coming? Was she mad about the joke? Or that she didn't know it was coming. I suspect the latter and that falls on Mr. Smith.  We can all see Will Smith chuckled at first when Rock dropped it. Just me, but I bet he went off half cocked as a defense for being a bad husband and not giving Mrs. Smith the heads up. 

Marriages, another subject I know a little bit about, are a curious thing.

 

[Shank Asu]

I think Will Smith has his own issues he's dealing with and he took it out on Rock.  His wife has made a cuck out of him the past few years, openly talking bad about him on her podcast and openly  sleeping with and having relationships with other men.  Either way he ruined what should've been a big moment in his life.  And yes, he should've been removed by security.

[LuckyDan]

15 minutes ago, MrMagoo said:

I would humbly and respectively disagree. I would guess 98% of the audience did not know that J.P. Smith had an alopecia problem. Heck, most wouldn't know what alopecia meant. J.P. Smith looks nice with a shaved head. It's pretty popular with some women these days and I (who is acutely attuned to the vagaries of American culture) did not think twice about her appearance.  I know who she is and I thought she looked delightful. I did not know about her alopecia nor anything about the "backstory" re. her marriage and her podcast pronouncements about it. Like most people, why should I? 

In addition, Chris Rock told that joke in rehearsal the day before in front of Will Smith. He knew it was coming. I suspect...and have not heard one way or the other...that Mrs. Smith was not at rehearsal. Really, why should she? Therefore, did Mr. Smith tell Mrs. Smith it was coming? Was she mad about the joke? Or that she didn't know it was coming. I suspect the latter and that falls on Mr. Smith.  We can all see Will Smith chuckled at first when Rock dropped it. Just me, but I bet he went off half cocked as a defense for being a bad husband and not giving Mrs. Smith the heads up. 

Marriages, another subject I know a little bit about, are a curious thing.

 

Known or not, he made a joke about her appearance. A man. Making a joke about how a woman looks. This is the Academy, our moral betters. 

Are you sure 1) the joke was said in rehearsal - making the academy aware of it; and 2) Smith was present at rehearsal? 

I'm not on team Smith. I am very sympathetic to Chris. I am one whose jokes in the workplace once led to discussions with HR. I like edgy humor. The stuff Chris dished out was very mild compared to a lot of the things people on, let's say, a certain side of the political divide, tolerate daily.

I'm just considering all the angles about how a revocation of the award might play out. 

[unwatchable]

21 minutes ago, Shank Asu said:

I think Will Smith has his own issues he's dealing with and he took it out on Rock.  His wife has made a cuck out of him the past few years, openly talking bad about him on her podcast and openly  sleeping with and having relationships with other men.  Either way he ruined what should've been a big moment in his life.  And yes, he should've been removed by security.

Why he would stay in such a relationship is beyond me, and I'm certain it has nothing to do with divorce laws and distribution of assets. He made his bed...

But, hey, look on the bright side- he's got those two well-adjusted children. 🙄

[wouldbestar]

Until this morning I knew nothing about the punch.  I also didn't know about Jada Pinkett-Smith's illness.  When I watched the Miss World Pageant two weeks ago, two Black women from Africa competed without hair-one made the quarter finals-and thought she was just acknowledging  her African heritage.  When I learned the whole story and saw the clip, I came out on Smith's side and his acceptance speech then made more sense.  Attacking people for their appearance or medical issues in never in good taste  and Rock has made cracks about the Smith family before.  Jada was clearly upset by the remark and Will was defending her.  Mindless violence is one thing but Rock was out of line.  Maybe now MCs will think twice about what they say on stage about other people.  Certainly, there has to be limits even for "public persons". 

Violence, sometimes necessary to advance the storyline and other times just gratuitous,  has always been part of various movie plots  and always will.   If Smith loses his Oscar or is banned from further competition because of this, Hollywood hypocracy at its worse.  

[Dargo]

1 hour ago, lydecker said:

I'll second that.  The fact that the guy got a standing ovation after he slapped someone on stage blows my mind. I suppose nothing should surprise us anymoe.

Well, the "standing ovation" is NOW the norm anymore ya know, lydecker.

This little social phenomenon seemed to start about 10-15 years ago when the audiences on late night talk shows began standing and clapping when the hosts were first introduced at the beginning of the programs, and then later when almost every damn guest and regardless their "public image" or the "quality" or "noteworthiness" of their careers would walk out on stage to converse with said hosts.

And nope, and I have NO damn idea WHY this has started being "a thing" in recent years, but I for ONE have gotten pretty damn sick and tired of witnessing this happening, as I STILL believe a "standing ovation" should be reserved for and done in only very special circumstances and when the people receiving them are and have been recognized for having done continually exemplary and outstanding work in whatever field of endeavor their notoriety stems, and such as in the case of when Anthony Hopkins walked out on stage last evening.

What PRESENTLY stands as the norm in these regards has done nothing but CHEAPEN the whole aspect and concept of the "standing ovation"!

(...aaah, but there I go sounding like some old fogy..ahem..FOGEY again, huh!)   LOL

[unwatchable]

3 minutes ago, wouldbestar said:

Violence, sometimes necessary to advance the storyline and other times just gratuitous,  has always been part of various movie plots  and always will.   If Smith loses his Oscar or is banned from further competition because of this, Hollywood hypocracy at its worse.  

Are you saying movies and real life are the same thing? Anything that happens in movies is permissible in real life?

[wouldbestar]

10 minutes ago, unwatchable said:

Are you saying movies and real life are the same thing? Anything that happens in movies is permissible in real life?

No but like everything else in life there are levels of violence.  Those people in Ukraine fighting to keep their country are a different cry from  robbers, bullies  or murderers for hire using violence for their own benefit.   Law enforcement officers must sometimes meet violence with the same.  Sometimes things get hot between friends and relatives and fists fly.  All are different situations calling for different ways of resolutions.

Smith might not have been totally right, as even he admitted, but Rock began it with the crack and has hopefully learned something from the result.  Smith does not deserve to lose his Oscar for defending his family's honor.     

[unwatchable]

9 minutes ago, wouldbestar said:

Smith might not have been totally right, as even he admitted, but Rock began it with the crack and has hopefully learned something from the result.  Smith does not deserve to lose his Oscar for defending his family's honor.     

Might not have been totally right? Man, Smith committed misdemeanor battery. Had Rock filed a police report, Smith could have been arrested. Smith could be subject to a civil suit. "Right" does not even enter into it. He was as wrong as wrong can be.

[MrMagoo]

1 hour ago, LuckyDan said:

Known or not, he made a joke about her appearance. A man. Making a joke about how a woman looks. This is the Academy, our moral betters. 

Are you sure 1) the joke was said in rehearsal - making the academy aware of it; and 2) Smith was present at rehearsal? 

I'm not on team Smith. I am very sympathetic to Chris. I am one whose jokes in the workplace once led to discussions with HR. I like edgy humor. The stuff Chris dished out was very mild compared to a lot of the things people on, let's say, a certain side of the political divide, tolerate daily.

I'm just considering all the angles about how a revocation of the award might play out. 

I'm only going by what I've read in multiple places: that Rock told the joke in rehearsals. I've also read that Rock did not know of Smith's alopecia condition. Again, from what I've read, Chris Rock is a good guy and would not have made the joke if he knew.  I think Rock was just doing what Oscar comics do. 

It was far from the most cringey joke in this year's Oscars. There's been tons worse in the past. In the end, every nominee knows he/she's going to get joked about at the Oscars. Hollywood gets mocked endlessly at the Oscars.

Jada Pinkett Smith should have put her hand over her open mouth and feigned insult and the show would have gone on. JPS is not some shy woodland creature. She's a movie star too.

In my working days, when I was part of a bunch of different organizations, I...and others...were constantly the brunt of jokes at luncheons and ceremonies. I'm not a big shot, multi-millionaire movie star but even I knew how to take a joke.  

[MrMagoo]

 "....but even I knew how to take a joke."

 

And, in the end, isn't that the REAL problem? 

[LuckyDan]

6 minutes ago, unwatchable said:

Might not have been totally right? Man, Smith committed misdemeanor battery. Had Rock filed a police report, Smith could have been arrested. Smith could be subject to a civil suit. "Right" does not even enter into it. He was as wrong as wrong can be.

Smith is subject to arrest anyway. The LAPD said they're not going to investigate but they don't need Rock to press charges for them to arrest Smith for assault.

[Wayne]

To quote Tom Skerritt, as Capt. Duke Forrest, in Robert Altman's M*A*S*H (1970):

"Colonel, fair's fair -- if I punch Chris Rock and nail Jada Pnkett, can I have an Oscar?"

 

 

[Dargo]

1 hour ago, Wayne said:

To quote Tom Skerritt, as Capt. Duke Forrest, in Robert Altman's M*A*S*H (1970):

"Colonel, fair's fair -- if I punch Chris Rock and nail Jada Pnkett, can I have an Oscar?"

 

 

I think you meant "To paraphrase" here, Wayne.

(...HEY, you should feel lucky that it's ME being so pedantic here, dude...just think if Will Smith saw this was moved to correct you and was within just a few steps away from you, RIGHT?!)

LOL

[CinemaInternational]

1 hour ago, LawrenceA said:

My thoughts on the show, other than The Slap:

The host banter was no better or worse than usual, and I could do without the bits other than the opening monologue. The trio dressed as movie characters was dumb and landed without a real punchline, and the "gifts to the audience" bit seemed half-baked and again, not very funny. 

The Bond montage was pointless, and I say this as a Bond fan.

The reunion/anniversary bits were pointless, particularly when those who came out did not also present an award. As much as I love Coppola, Pacino and DeNiro, to just have the latter two come and stand awkwardly was silly. I also learned for the first time that people actually fondly remember White Men Can't Jump. I was not aware that it was a cultural touchstone until now. And celebrating Pulp Fiction's "28th anniversary" was plain stupid. They could have just introed the trio and left it at that.

This was the most flagrant disregard for the Honorary Oscars yet. They usually spend a little longer talking about them, even after they started awarding them at a separate event.

The In Memoriam was terrible, as usual. I don't need to see a dancing chorus line. Just idiotic.

The addition of the extra hit song from Encanto would have been irritating, and it still kinda was, but I realized when they finally got to the Best Song category that Van Morrison was (understandably) not performing (not invited?), so they had a song gap to fill.

No real surprise winners.

Nothing else interesting happened.

There weren't any surprise winners. Those blind ballots made it look like there could be but none materialized. That alone would have put a damper on things.

The Bond thing made even less sense when you had Judi Dench right there in the room, plus two former Bond villains (Bardem and Malek) and none of them were asked to do anything.

They tried to make death look like a celebration.....

The gifts to the audience bit savaged The Last Duel claiming it was a film nobody had seen, even the director. Between that and the GI Jane joke a few minutes later, coupled with House of Gucci getting a Razzie for Jared Leto on Saturday, it was a terrible weekend for Ridley Scott.

I think Morrison was invited, but he had a concert tour at the same time.

Agree wholeheartedly on Pulp Fiction and The Godfather (what was with that earlier musical interpretation of The Godfather theme?)

I too am mystified over White Men Can't Jump. The film had a spirited turn from Rosie Perez, and had occasionally fascinating line rhythms in the basketball scenes, but the film seems mostly forgettable otherwise. Harrellson and Snipes were better in other movies. (And Harrellson was pretty inspired as the naive, dim bartender on Cheers even before that film) First figured out though that it still had a following when people last year were pushing for Rosie  Perez to be named host of Jeopardy simply because of her scene in the film.

The small categories were not incorporated well into the show, and fans of Dune were robbed of a little more enjoyment.

Despite promising to remain short, it went over by 47 minutes.

It was sad to see Liza Minnelli in such poor shape.

 

However, I did appreciate the shutout for Don't Look Up , and having loved Belfast, it was nice to see Kenneth Branagh finally win an Oscar after 32 years of trying.

7 hours ago, LawrenceA said:

Oh, I forgot to mention the two idiotic "fan polls" that saw Army of the Dead voted as Fan Favorite Film, and "The Flash Entering the Speed Force" from Zach Snyder's Justice League as Favorite Movie Moment.

I think everyone can recall where they were when they first saw The Flash Entering the Speed Force.

Those were just plain idiotic and the audience knew it too

[EricJ]

2 hours ago, CinemaInternational said:

The gifts to the audience bit savaged The Last Duel claiming it was a film nobody had seen, even the director. Between that and the GI Jane joke a few minutes later, coupled with House of Gucci getting a Razzie for Jared Leto on Saturday, it was a terrible weekend for Ridley Scott.

The Last Duel's lack of any audience whatsoever had already been a late-nite-comic staple for months, the fruit was starting to hang low.

(I just remember finding out that Ridley Scott had directed Last Duel after becoming sick of the nonstop ads, more specifically because..."No way--A GUY directed this?? 😳" )

I'm only going by what I've read in multiple places: that Rock told the joke in rehearsals. I've also read that Rock did not know of Smith's alopecia condition. Again, from what I've read, Chris Rock is a good guy and would not have made the joke if he knew.  I think Rock was just doing what Oscar comics do. 

It was far from the most cringey joke in this year's Oscars. There's been tons worse in the past. In the end, every nominee knows he/she's going to get joked about at the Oscars. Hollywood gets mocked endlessly at the Oscars.

And if Rock had used a reference people still knew in 2022, and made a "Yo, Jada...Wakanda Forever!  ✊ " joke, would he have been slapped?

[mr6666]

[Dargo]

Quote

 8 hours ago, LawrenceA said:

Oh, I forgot to mention the two idiotic "fan polls" that saw Army of the Dead voted as Fan Favorite Film, and "The Flash Entering the Speed Force" from Zach Snyder's Justice League as Favorite Movie Moment.

I think everyone can recall where they were when they first saw The Flash Entering the Speed Force.

 

1 hour ago, CinemaInternational said:

Those were just plain idiotic and the audience knew it too

 

Uh-huh, BUT I'll bet every 15 year old out there watching this ceremony (OR those of ALL ages with a 15 y/o's mindset and taste in movies) felt that the Academy was for once listening to them, anyway!

 

And as that old saying goes: "Youth must be served", RIGHT?!

 

(...OR maybe put ANOTHER way: "This country is SO damn juvenile now days!"...WHOOPS, and there I go AGAIN soundin' like some old fogey, huh!)  LOL

 

[LornaHansonForbes]

This is good:

EDIT: It is A GOSSIP SESH from a SCOTTISH(?) MORNING SHOW called LORRAINE.

I have heretofore not been acquainted with her, but she is a DELIGHT and I love her HOLLYWOOD CORRESPONDENT and there is HOT DISH such as: APPARENTLY SOME IN THE THEATER  BOOED SMITH'S NAME WHEN IT WAS READ AMONG THE NOMINEES!!!!!!!!

 

[LornaHansonForbes]

i ALSO CANNOT BELIEVE I AM SAYING THIS BUT I NEED TO HEAR WHAT WENDY WILLIAMS THINKS ABOUT ALL THIS.

[LornaHansonForbes]

6 hours ago, EricJ said:

 if Rock had used a reference people still knew in 2022, and made a "Yo, Jada...Wakanda Forever!  ✊ " joke, would he have been slapped?

okay, that's LEGIT FUNNY.

I never would've thought it, but you hold the key to diffusing the entire scenario.

 

[LornaHansonForbes]

7 hours ago, CinemaInternational said:

The Bond thing made even less sense when you had Judi Dench right there in the room, plus two former Bond villains (Bardem and Malek) and none of them were asked to do anything.

Also- THANKS BE TO JESUS- GRACE JONES is still blessing us with her presence in the mortal coil.

 

 

 

[LornaHansonForbes]

13 hours ago, MrMagoo said:

 

In addition, Chris Rock told that joke in rehearsal the day before in front of Will Smith. He knew it was coming. I suspect...and have not heard one way or the other...that Mrs. Smith was not at rehearsal. Really, why should she?

 

 

13 hours ago, LuckyDan said:

 

Are you sure 1) the joke was said in rehearsal - making the academy aware of it; and 2) Smith was present at rehearsal? 

I

i apologize (also to LAWRENCE) , this is some bad information I passed along, due to my being OVERWHELMED BY THE STORY.

I came across where I heard this and realized I MISINTERPRETED WHAT WAS REPORTED- an assistant to CHRIS ROCK said they (meaning the assistant) were at the rehearsal and WILL SMITH did not storm the stage- this was to counterract the story emerging in the immediate aftermath of the incident that this must have been a scripted, staged, planned bit. 

WILL SMITH was not at the rehearsal and whether the GI JANE joke was told at rehearsal or not is unclear at the moment.

i regret passing along bad info, this thing has been a wild ride though.

also i'm gettin old.